Adesanya is one tittie defense away from GOAT MW status

[LHWBelt]

Anderson would still be ahead of Israel as P4P GOAT mainly due to top5 wins at WW and LHW (Sakurai and Griffin) but their MW resume will be on par very soon imo

Anderson
#1-Belfort
#2-Henderson
#3-Franklin
#4-Sonnen
#5-Okami
#6- Marquardt
#7- Maia
#8- Horn


Adesanya
#1 - Whittaker
#2 - Romero
#3 - Costa
#4 - Vettori
#5 - Gastelum
#6 - Silva (washed up)
#7 - Brunson
#8 - Tavares

I'd say Israel is pretty close already
Does Leites, Newton, Murray, Coté, Lutter, Leben or Rivera add much to Anderson's GOAT MW status over Israel?

He's got quite a ways to go man, he has what 2 title defenses? Maybe 3?

 

[pankrat]

He's got quite a ways to go man, he has what 2 title defenses? Maybe 3?

Yeah but that doesnt tell the whole story.
By tittle defenses Rich Franklin is a top3 MW of all time and he obviously is not.

The fact a win over Cote is a more meaningful win than Kelvin Gastelum because the latter is not "a tittle defense" is pretty telling about how weak is that argument. It matters, but its not everything in the discussion

 

[LHWBelt]

Yeah but that doesnt tell the whole story.
By tittle defenses Rich Franklin is a top3 MW of all time and he obviously is not.

The fact a win over Cote is a more meaningful win than Kelvin Gastelum because the latter is not "a tittle defense" is pretty telling about how weak is that argument. It matters, but its not everything in the discussion

Obviously quality comes into play as well and a win over Cote isn't above a win over gastelum but Anderson had quality and quantity. He dominated the division. He even went up and beat a former champ super easily. I give Adesanya alot of credit for taking on Jan but he didn't win so that's not a positive mark.

 

[Iron Nick]

I swear Izzy could win his next 10 fights by finish and some people would still say he's not close to Anderson Silva.

Look, it's absolutely fair to rate Silva higher as of now, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here and also stop with fallacious comparisons:

Yoel Romero is NOT the same fighter or a worse version of Dan Henderson, certainly not in regards to how he matches up against pure strikers.
Obviously Hendo is more accomplished than Romero, but the latter is the technically better wrestler, more diverse and refined striker and much faster and more explosive than Hendo, which is quite the advantage in a sport where speed kills.
On top of that he's a southpaw and thus naturally far more awkward to deal with than the orthodox Dan Henderson.

As for the downplaying of Kelvin Gastelum that i frequently see:
Just lol.
Regardless of how unspectacular his record looks number-wise (win to loss-ratio) he's an extremely dangerous and incredibly talented and capable fighter, he's a pretty well-rounded wrestle-boxer with great hands (whether we're talking timing, speed or power), amazing overall speed (especially when it comes to closing the distance), underrated head movement, a really good gas tank and one of the best chins in MMA-history.

TS deserves credit for not losing his cool with some of these ridiculously unobjective and short-sighted takes in this thread.

 

[jitzmonkey]

I disagree that Cote is a more important win than Brunson.
Brunson has been in the top10 rankings for years now - much longer than Coté - and he is also at the top of the rankings by nº of wins in UFC MW division history. He also beat - and finished - better opponents than Coté.

Considering Coté a more important win just because he fought for the tittle as an injury replacement is silly to me. A good example of why nº of tittle defense is an important metric, but taken uncritically can be very void too.

By the way I consider Jeremy Horn, and Carlos Newton because of the ending, and arguably even Lee Murray for the Cage Rage belt, as better wins in the MW resume of Anderson Silva than Patrick Coté. Yes, even if Cote was at the right place at the right time to contend for the UFC tittle in a thin division.

The Brunson win is only good in retrospect. At the time he was
2-2 in his last 4. At least Cote was on a win streak.
And I remember how the fight went.
Keep in mind I'm talking in general.

 

[Aberlour]

Forrest had just beat Shogun amd Rampage with a completely different strategy than the one you describe.
Keep parroting the hater narrative though, this is sherdog for you

Been a while since I have seen the Rampage fight but I know he was his usual reckless self in the Rua fight.